Private Vehicle - Thai Reg - Into Myanmar

[wilcopops]

Anyone succeded in doing this get - if so how? What documentation did you need?

[Tomtomtom69]

Without a government minder and special permission, no foreign registered vehicle including a Thai vehicle can travel very far within Myanmar. The only three crossing points where they are allowed to enter at all are Payathonzu (opposite Three Pagodas Pass), Myawaddy (opposite Mae Sot) and Tachileik (opposite Mae Sai). The former two only allow day crossings and you can't drive more than 12km inside the country i.e. up to the waterfall near Payathonzu or beyond the economic trade zone near Myawaddy. Note that currently it is still not legally possible for third party foreigners to enter Payathonzu (I crossed unofficially 4 times but I didn't spend more than 30 mins inside the country nor did I go far inside Myanmar) but soon they will re-open that crossing for all nationalities.

So for any real travel beyond the border town you'll have to go to Mae Sai and cross into Tachileik, where you'll be allowed to drive up to Kengtung and maybe the Chinese border town of Mong La. I think you might be required to have a guide accompany you in the car as well. Apart from that, a car passport or other equivalent document allowing you to take the car out of the country, registration documents and if required, a power of attorney letter along with a signed copy of the owners ID should be all you need.

Another option is a motorcycle tour entering at Myawaddy, with travel permitted to most other parts of the country including Hpa-an, Yangon, Mandalay etc. but to do this you would need to apply for permission via a travel agency and expect to pay about US$1200 for an all-inclusive 10 day tour. There have been a number of motorcycle tours from Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore that have done this trip recently. The reason motorcycle tours are mostly approved whereas car caravan tours are harder to organize is that there is a very narrow 30km stretch of road between Myawaddy and Kawkareik that is sandy and very difficult to pass any other vehicles hence a Thai company is building a bypass but in the meantime a one day up, one day down rule applies meaning that travel is very restricted through this road until the bypass is finished, which will be sometime later next year.

[wilcopops]

Without a government minder and special permission, no foreign registered vehicle including a Thai vehicle can travel very far within Myanmar. The only three crossing points where they are allowed to enter at all are Payathonzu (opposite Three Pagodas Pass), Myawaddy (opposite Mae Sot) and Tachileik (opposite Mae Sai). The former two only allow day crossings and you can't drive more than 12km inside the country i.e. up to the waterfall near Payathonzu or beyond the economic trade zone near Myawaddy. Note that currently it is still not legally possible for third party foreigners to enter Payathonzu (I crossed unofficially 4 times but I didn't spend more than 30 mins inside the country nor did I go far inside Myanmar) but soon they will re-open that crossing for all nationalities.

So for any real travel beyond the border town you'll have to go to Mae Sai and cross into Tachileik, where you'll be allowed to drive up to Kengtung and maybe the Chinese border town of Mong La. I think you might be required to have a guide accompany you in the car as well. Apart from that, a car passport or other equivalent document allowing you to take the car out of the country, registration documents and if required, a power of attorney letter along with a signed copy of the owners ID should be all you need.

Another option is a motorcycle tour entering at Myawaddy, with travel permitted to most other parts of the country including Hpa-an, Yangon, Mandalay etc. but to do this you would need to apply for permission via a travel agency and expect to pay about US$1200 for an all-inclusive 10 day tour. There have been a number of motorcycle tours from Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore that have done this trip recently. The reason motorcycle tours are mostly approved whereas car caravan tours are harder to organize is that there is a very narrow 30km stretch of road between Myawaddy and Kawkareik that is sandy and very difficult to pass any other vehicles hence a Thai company is building a bypass but in the meantime a one day up, one day down rule applies meaning that travel is very restricted through this road until the bypass is finished, which will be sometime later next year.

It would be nice if they offered a similar tour for 4 wheeled vehicles.

[Tomtomtom69]

wilcopops, on 30 May 2013 - 16:08, said:

Tomtomtom69, on 30 May 2013 - 14:34, said:

Without a government minder and special permission, no foreign registered vehicle including a Thai vehicle can travel very far within Myanmar. The only three crossing points where they are allowed to enter at all are Payathonzu (opposite Three Pagodas Pass), Myawaddy (opposite Mae Sot) and Tachileik (opposite Mae Sai). The former two only allow day crossings and you can't drive more than 12km inside the country i.e. up to the waterfall near Payathonzu or beyond the economic trade zone near Myawaddy. Note that currently it is still not legally possible for third party foreigners to enter Payathonzu (I crossed unofficially 4 times but I didn't spend more than 30 mins inside the country nor did I go far inside Myanmar) but soon they will re-open that crossing for all nationalities.

So for any real travel beyond the border town you'll have to go to Mae Sai and cross into Tachileik, where you'll be allowed to drive up to Kengtung and maybe the Chinese border town of Mong La. I think you might be required to have a guide accompany you in the car as well. Apart from that, a car passport or other equivalent document allowing you to take the car out of the country, registration documents and if required, a power of attorney letter along with a signed copy of the owners ID should be all you need.

Another option is a motorcycle tour entering at Myawaddy, with travel permitted to most other parts of the country including Hpa-an, Yangon, Mandalay etc. but to do this you would need to apply for permission via a travel agency and expect to pay about US$1200 for an all-inclusive 10 day tour. There have been a number of motorcycle tours from Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore that have done this trip recently. The reason motorcycle tours are mostly approved whereas car caravan tours are harder to organize is that there is a very narrow 30km stretch of road between Myawaddy and Kawkareik that is sandy and very difficult to pass any other vehicles hence a Thai company is building a bypass but in the meantime a one day up, one day down rule applies meaning that travel is very restricted through this road until the bypass is finished, which will be sometime later next year.

It would be nice if they offered a similar tour for 4 wheeled vehicles.

There have been some, including one German car tour that went across from India to Mae Sot via Myanmar in March, but until the road around Kawkareik is finished I think it may take as long to get approval as the remaining time for the road to be finished. I already made an enquiry about this in Yangon and although the officials approved the idea of a motorcycle tour they seemed reluctant about a car tour claiming "they had no experience with this", however the real reason is related to the state of that stretch of road.

[onthemoon]

When do you suppose the bypass will be completed?

[Tomtomtom69]

Sometime next year from what I've heard, probably late in the year.

[Tomtomtom69]

Just read a very informative article on the Bangkok Post website about car driving tours in Myanmar (entering via Mae Sot). It seems to be easier than ever to gain permission, now taking only a month and costing just US$50. Go to the travel section of the Bangkok Post website for more information. The article is entitled "on the road in Myanmar".

[onthemoon]

Sometime next year from what I've heard, probably late in the year.

Thanks. I'll have to hurry then, because I still want to see this 30km stretch of "on day up, one day down".